Diageo campaigns rewarded at the 61st Cannes Lions Festival

Guinness, Smirnoff and Smithwick's campaigns all recognised for creativity

London, 23 June 2014: Diageo, the world’s leading premium drinks business, along with its partner agencies are celebrating following a number of wins at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. From Guinness ‘Sapeurs’ in Africa to Smirnoff ‘Mindtunes’ in Western Europe and Guinness ‘Draught in a Bottle’ in Asia Pacific, each was recognised for driving and delivering inspiring campaigns over the past twelve months.

The Cannes Lions Festival has been a creative benchmark for more than 60 years as it celebrates excellent work delivered by the communications industry. Diageo and its agency partners won a total of 16 awards including one gold, six silvers and nine bronzes. Guinness is Diageo’s most awarded brand this year, winning one gold, and several silvers and bronzes across three campaigns and five different categories. These wins celebrate excellent creative work with huge impact on the brand communications world, as each campaign’s creativity has truly altered the future industry landscape.

Syl Saller, Chief Marketing Officer at Diageo commented, “The link between creativity and effectiveness is clear and that’s why we partner with world class agencies committed to great work. Creative and strategic excellence drive competitive advantage and the Cannes Lions awards shine a spotlight on quality. They inspire both our brand teams and agencies to keep raising the bar in the name of growth. This is a record number of wins for our Diageo brands and we hope that all of our agencies are raising a glass to our tremendous partnerships all over the world”.

The winning campaigns are highlighted below:

Guinness ‘Sapeurs’ (advert and documentary) won seven awards across several categories picking up two silvers in the Film category, two bronzes for Non-Fiction: Film and Online in the Branded Content & Entertainment category as well as three bronzes in the Film Craft Lions category for Achievement in Production, Direction, and Casting. Created by BBDO, the Guinness ‘Sapeurs’ TV ad celebrates people with extraordinary integrity and character, in real situations, featuring the ‘Society of Elegant Persons of the Congo’, otherwise known as the ‘Sapeurs’. The ‘Sapeurs’ is a group of refined gentleman from Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, who have a deep rooted pride in their aspirational culture. Their life is not defined by occupation or wealth, but by respect, a moral code and a desire to inspire others through their style and attitude. Their focus isn’t on the fabric or cost of the suit but the worth of the man inside it.

Guinness ‘Draught in a Bottle’ campaign, in partnership with BBDO Proximity Singapore, won both gold and silver in the Outdoor category and was also awarded silver in the Press category. Guinness Draught was launched in a bottle to reach out to more Guinness fans, catering to aficionados in bars where it's not available on tap. Simply called Guinness Draught in a Bottle, it is almost identical to the Guinness Draught in terms of taste, but as the ritual of being served a pint is different from that of a bottle, regular customers needed convincing. The ‘Draught in a Bottle’ campaign re-imagined the familiar Guinness pint iconography within the design language of the bottle, creating the illusion of ‘a pint in a bottle’.

Guinness ‘Surge’ campaign by AMV BBDO London was awarded bronze for Photography in the Outdoor category. The Guinness surge is something that has been portrayed many times in Guinness advertising over the years. The idea of this campaign was to evoke the elemental power of the Guinness surge in a way never seen before. Using epic imagery of waves from beneath the surface, the images were then cropped to reflect the power and beauty of a surging pint of Guinness as it is being poured. The images were shot by world renowned surf photographer Brian Bielmann in Teahupoo, Tahiti which is known for its giant waves, pure clean water and coral base, creating a perfect divide for Guinness’ light and dark contrasting tones.

Smirnoff ‘Mindtunes’ was awarded bronze for Use of Music / Sound Design in the Cyber category. The Smirnoff Mindtunes project brought together chart topping British electronic music producer DJ Fresh and PhD. Julien Castet, a leading brainwave technology expert, to enable a group of physically disabled music fans, Andy, Mark and Jo who cannot play regular instruments, to create a music track with nothing but their mind. Diageo partnered with Duval Guillaume, Antwerp to bring this campaign to life which aim was to stir the spirit of inventiveness in us all through giving people a platform to express their creativity.

‘Bold Arrivals’ – the launch campaign for Smirnoff Double Black, was awarded bronze for cinematography in the Film Craft category. Created by Leo Burnett Sydney for Diageo Australia, it brings to life the feeling consumers have when they make the ultimate party statement. Directed by Emmy Award nominee Garth Davis and set to the soundtrack of ‘Video Games’ by Lana Del Ray, the compelling creative follows four party-goers who resemble a comet as they sky dive through the night to make a bold entrance.

Smithwick's ‘Squirrel’ – part of Smithwick's ‘Experience. It's what you do with it that counts’ campaign – was awarded bronze in the Film Craft category. The ad is the brand's first foray onto TV in almost a decade. It follows a ruby red Irish squirrel as he applies his expertise to brewing a perfect pint of the red stuff; a skill he has clearly learnt from his squirrel ancestors, whose portraits adorn the walls of the brewery. Diageo partnered with The Mill London, production company Gorgeous, and this year's Cannes Agency of the Year, adam&eveDDB.